‘Faster, go faster,’ Arloum urged. ‘Is this your first time?’

“Y-yes,” Fick lowered his head, hiding his blush.

‘Don’t worry, it’s my first time too,’ Arloum secretly snickered. ‘I’ve never stolen anything in secret.’

Fick nodded, quietly stuffing food into his bag. Apart from two marinated rabbit meat, the house only had fruits. He tried searching for a bigger bag as well, but he couldn’t find any. Thus, with only one sack, Fick stuffed the rabbit meat with the fruits.

“Is, is that enough?” Fick asked, looking at the sack he was holding. It was stretched taut, being as big as his abdomen.

‘It should be,’ Arloum replied. The next moment, he was watching Fick sneaking out of the house like a misbehaved child.

When Fick started tiptoeing out, he couldn’t hold it in anymore. ‘...you do remember that you broke the door, right?’

Fick’s face was stoic. “That’s because no one’s around.”

‘How do you know there’s people nearby now?’ Arloum sneered. He could sense it, no one was nearby—they were all cooped up indoors.

Fick had no reply. With his heart pounding in his chest, he entered the forest, hurrying away.

Apart from nearly tripping over the two dry bodies of the elves from earlier, Fick found no trouble.

Surrounded by the dark elves, he placed a cloth on the ground before untying the sack.

“Gulp.”

Fick smiled, watching the dark elves restraining themselves. However, their eyes could burn the fruits gathered into a small pile on the ground. As for the two marinated rabbit meat, no one gave them a glance.

Arloum ignored the dark elves, his eyes focused on the rabbits. ‘...so you don’t want the rabbits?’

‘Mosquito meat is still meat,’ Arloum thought, when he remembered something. ‘Wait a minute, weren’t we supposed to be raiding the village?!’

Nevertheless, he didn’t remind Fick for the time being. After seeing Horlum, he didn’t feel like rushing things.

Fick smiled at his kin. “Everyone, this is all I’ve brought for now. I’ll bring back more—”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“We can help you,” one of them interrupted, his voice sounding more like gasps.

“Yeah, it’s too risky to go alone,” another one said.

Before long, all the dark elves were volunteering to join Fick.

Fick couldn’t help but frown at their words. “It’s…”

‘Dangerous,’ he thought.

“You all should eat first,” he sighed, shaking his head. “We might be on the move soon.”

The dark elves looked at each other. Together, there were less than sixty of them left. On the other hand, there were only seventeen fruits.

“Let the others eat first,” the older ones said, pointing to the younger dark elves.

Fick looked at the dozen dark elves who surrendered their food. All of them were less than a year away from their “natural” death.

“...alright.” Fick nodded, lowering his head.

‘My lord,’ Fick called to Arloum in his mind.

‘What, will you ask me if I can remove the curse?’ Arloum guessed Fick’s thoughts.

‘...yes.’

Arloum thought for a moment. ‘I can. But I need more sacrifices—’

‘I’ll give you all of them,’ Fick said, his voice steely.

Arloum was taken aback, but he smiled the next moment. ‘Have you made up your mind?’

Fick nodded. ‘They are my… my people, after all. If it’s for them…’

Fick stood up, watching the dark elves sharing the fruits with each other. They tried giving the “old” dark elves something to eat, but they were rejected.

‘If it’s for them… I can kill.’ Fick clenched his fists.

‘That’s more like it,’ Arloum was satisfied.

Unbeknownst to Fick, however, Arloum silently moved the embryo in his body into Fick.

‘What can this do, I wonder,’ Arloum thought, sensing the embryo floating to Fick’s head. Then, he felt the embryo melting into Fick’s soul.

[Embryo T1 (6%) → Fairy T1 - 1/1]

‘...It turned into a fairy?’ Arloum frowned in his mind. ‘Fick became my fairy?’

Confused, he tried moving his “fairy,” but nothing happened.

Like a fragile sand castle, Arloum’s mood crumbled down.

----------------------------------------

Horlum and Fredrinn stared at a book on the ground, both of them crouching in a corner of the house.

“So… what’s this?” Fredrinn asked, looking at Horlum.

Horlum shrugged, shaking his head.

Moments ago, he spilled a glass of water, and the wooden floor was soaked. Fredrinn tried to help wipe out the water, but then he slipped, knocking his head on the corner of the house.

Afterward, the wooden floor caved in, and they found the book under it.

“Wanna read it?” Horlum was about to grab the book, when Fredrinn panicked and grabbed his hand.

“What if it’s a cursed book or something?!”

Horlum raised an eyebrow, feeling Fredrinn’s cold and trembling fingers.

“It’s not, I recognize this,” Horlum grinned.

Fredrinn’s mind turned blank, and he watched Horlum grab the book and sit on the bed on one side of the house.

Horlum’s house was small, shaped like a box. One side had the bed, the other side had the “kitchen,” the other side had cabinets and drawers.

As for where to bathe or relieve oneself… There was a nearby river and a well.

Horlum stared at Fredrinn, secretly laughing in his mind. “Fred?”

Fredrinn flinched, breaking out of his daze. “Then, why did you shake your head earlier?”

Horlum scratched his head. “Well… I’ve been searching for this for ages back when I was a kid—”

“We’re still kids,” Fredrinn blinked.

Horlum ignored him. “...but I couldn’t find it. How should I know it was hidden under the floor?”

Fredrinn sighed, sitting on the bed with Horlum. “So, what is it?”

“It’s a children’s story book. Dad used to read it to me all the time, and I remember waiting for him to read it to me everyday.”

“That’s… it?” Fredrinn pouted. “I thought it was some sort of mysterious book or something.”

Horlum smacked his lips. “Well, it is a mystery.”

“What do you mean?” Fredrinn tilted his head.

“Did you think I’d be searching for this for no reason? I miss it, yeah, but it’s more because I forgot all the stories in the book,” he opened the book. It was blank.

“Are you sure your memory is okay?” Fredrinn giggled.

“You don’t have to rub it in,” Horlum rolled his eyes, flipping to the next page.

It was blank.

“I’ve never seen a book like that before. Where did you guys buy it?” Fredrinn asked, watching Horlum flip to another page.

It was still blank.

Horlum frowned in confusion, skipping to the middle of the book… it was blank.

“...Horlum,” Fredrinn shuddered, his arms full of goosebumps. “...I think, I think that’s haunted.”

Horlum opened his mouth, but then, the book pages started flipping by themselves. By the time it turned back to the first page, ink stained the top of the page, before forming into words.

{Who are you?}